Grammar has long been part of education. Yet the place of grammar in schools has been played down in recent decades. Now it’s enjoying a revival, attracting interest and attention in schools and in the community at large. There’s also been some controversy over different approaches to grammar – traditional or modern, formal or functional – and some teachers have been uncertain what to do. Yet, at the same time other teachers have been exploring ways of bringing grammar into their teaching, tentatively at first but with growing confidence.
The book suggests many ways of incorporating grammar in teaching at the primary level, though it has broad relevance to teaching at other levels as well. Readers are invented to consider the issues and to enter classrooms where teachers and students are exploring grammar, language and much more. Here are ideas, inspiration and a challenge for all teachers as they help to develop children’s language competence and their understanding of language.